Nature Club - January 31, February 1

Since I just got back from scuba diving in Mexico, I was inspired to bring my collection of sea creatures for the kids to look at. Some of them had already learned about animals of the ocean and had thoughtful questions. It was very new to others. Everyone was extremely interested in the shells, sponges,corals, starfish and sand dollars they looked at. I think they really appreciated how interesting and beautiful ocean creatures are.

Nature Club

The Nature Club met on January 17 and 18 to talk about signs of animals in the snow. We talked about how you can tell that animals have been there even though you never see the animals. I read In the Snow: Who's Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George. We stamped animal tracks on paper, as well as animal and plant pictures. We all enjoyed it and wished we had just a little more snow!

Nature Club

Nature Club met on January 3 and 4 for the first classes of 2012. I'm sorry to be posting these pictures so much later, but there have been issues with my computer. Hopefully, everything will be resolved by the next Nature Club classes.
On Jan. 3 and 4, we talked about wild animals and tame animals. I explained that tame animals, like pets and farm animals, have people who feed, water and care for them. Wild animals have to take care of themselves and find their own food and water.
We had some very interesting discussions about our pets and about wild animals we've seen. We played a game where we guessed the animal and what kind it was. We also played a game where we acted out different wild and tame animals.
We had lots of fun and I gave the kids some homework: whenever they saw an animal, they should decide if it was wild or tame!

Nature Club

Ms. Pat's Nature Club met on December 13 and 14 to make Christmas presents for the birds. Although we are having a mild winter (so far) with little snow, the weather will very likely get colder and snowier and we want to help our little feathery friends.
We used little milk cartons for the feeders, and added twigs for a resting place, as well as yarn to hang it all from the tree. We took home wild bird seeds and planned to place the bird feeders in a tree or bush at home.
It was lots of fun and the kids were all excited to help out Nature!

Nature Club

The Nature Club had a lot of fun this week looking for changes. We went out and checked our pumpkin experiment to see if it had changed at all (it had rotted more). Then we looked around at the grass and trees to see how they had changed since school started. We collected sticks for a project in December and then took advantage of the continuing nice weather by pretending to be trees swaying in the wind, and birds flying south. Some of us just ended up rolling down the hill because it was fun! See our pictures in the following post!

Nature Club

Nature Club

The Nature Club met on November 1st and 2nd. Our topic this week was how nature recycles everything natural, and what happens to pumpkins if you leave them out all winter. We began our experiment by taking a jack-o-lantern and a very small pumpkin out to the edge of some woods near our playground. We marked the spot and left a sign that a science experiment was in progress. We also left a plastic bucket beside the pumpkins. Next spring, when the snow is gone, we will check and see what has happened to the pumpkins and the bucket.